Verification – Research Commercialisation from Publicly Funded Research 2025

The following actors are eligible to apply: 

• approved Norwegian research organisations. See the list of approved research organisations.
• Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) 
• start-up companies originating from approved research organisations, i.e. the company that is applying has been established for the purpose of commercialising the research results that form the basis of the application. 

Sole proprietorships are not eligible to apply. 

The organisation listed as the Project Owner in the application form must have approved the submission of the application. 

The Project Owner organisation must be one of the following: 

• Research organisation: Approved Norwegian research organisations.  See the list of approved research organisations.  
• Technology Transfer Office: Research organisation(s) with intellectual property rights must be a partner in the project.  
• Start-up companies: A start-up company must originate from approved research organisations, i.e. the applicant company has been established for the purpose of commercialising the research results that form the basis of the application.  
  • Start-up companies must originate from approved research organisations where the research results originate, and the company must meet the criteria in Article 22 of the General Block Exemption Regulation.   
  • Start-up companies must attach a declaration of rights from the research organisation's management or their technology transfer office, confirming that the research originates from the research organisation(s) and that the company has the necessary rights to further develop the research results for commercial exploitation. 
  • Start-up companies must attach a declaration form for undertakings confirming the size of the company and that it has no outstanding claims for repayment of illegal state aid. Note that it is not necessary to tick section 2 about enterprises in difficulty in the declaration. 

For more information, see "Conditions for the allocation of support" below. 

Requirements relating to partners 

• If the Project Owner shares ownership of the results on which the verification project is based with others who meet the criteria set out under "Who can apply", these must be partners. 
• Only actors who meet the criteria set out under "Who can apply" can be partners. 
• If the project includes a partner(s), they must be registered in the application form with the role "Both research activity and financing", and the Project Owner must enter into an agreement with the partner(s) that regulates rights and obligations if a contract is awarded and subsequently signed. 
• When a TTO is the Project Owner, the research organisation(s) that owns the intellectual property rights must be a partner(s). 

Requirements for subcontractors 

• Suppliers to the project, i.e. consultancy, development or other services, are considered subcontractors. 
• A subcontractor assists with the implementation of specific and limited tasks in the project and cannot hold or be given rights to project results. 
• Subcontractors must not be registered in the application form, but assignments of a larger scope must be described in the application (budget specification and project description). 

On our website you will find information about collaboration agreements and the use of subcontractors.  

Please note that the role "R&D provider" must not be used in applications for verification projects. 

You can apply for up to 100 per cent of the budgeted project costs to be covered. Project costs are actual costs that are necessary to carry out the project. 

Typical activities include: 

• clarify areas of application and market potential 
• prepare the basis for "freedom to operate", prepare and file patent applications 
• mature and validate new technologies from the laboratory to relevant application environments 
• establish contact with potential partners, licensees, future industry partners, investors, customers and users 

The following are examples of costs that cannot be included in the project costs: 

• purchase of license or of rights to research results 
• operating costs such as maintenance of patents or other operational activities 
• costs related to the financing of the educational pathways for research fellows (doctoral and postdoctoral candidates). PhD candidates, on the other hand, can be part of the project group and carry out activities for the project. The support can be used to free up time for research fellows. 

You can find more information about what to enter in the project budget on the website and in the Guide for completing the application form (in Norwegian only, the attachment opens in a new window), which has been specifically prepared for commercialisation applications.  

Conditions for funding 

The allocation of grants depends on the Research Council being allocated funding for commercialisation through the national budget. 

The projects must start no later than 6 months after the decision date. The latest permitted project completion is 31.12.2029. 

Research organisations and technology transfer offices 

Approved research organisations, the technology transfer offices that represent them and any partners that are to receive funding must fall under the definition of an organisation for research and knowledge dissemination in the state aid rules. Any other partners are not eligible for funding from the Research Council in these projects. 

Definition of the state aid rules: 

 ‘research and knowledge-dissemination organisation’ means an entity (such as universities or research institutes, technology transfer agencies, innovation intermediaries, research-oriented physical or virtual collaborative entities), irrespective of its legal status (organised under public or private law) or way of financing, whose primary goal is to independently conduct fundamental research, industrial research or experimental development or to widely disseminate the results of such activities by way of teaching, publication or knowledge transfer. Where such entity also pursues economic activities the financing, the costs and the revenues of those economic activities must be accounted for separately. Undertakings that can exert a decisive influence upon such an entity, in the quality of, for example, shareholders or members, may not enjoy preferential access to the results generated by it; 

Funding to a research organisation or its Technology Transfer Office may only be used for their non-economic activity in the form of knowledge transfer activities, as described in Section 20 b) of the ESA Guidelines on State Aid for R&D&I. 

Applicants must ensure that no indirect support goes to collaborating companies, in the form of, for example, favourably priced rights to results. The collaboration agreement must ensure that rights to results are distributed in a manner that is in accordance with Section 29 of the ESA Guidelines on Aid for Research, Development and Innovation.  

What is non-financial knowledge transfer activity? 

In order to be considered part of the research organisation's non-economic activity, so that the support for the activity does not constitute state aid, the knowledge transfer activity must, in accordance with ESA's guidelines, either be carried out by the research organisation itself, or in collaboration with or on behalf of other such entities. 

The term knowledge transfer is defined as follows in ESA's guidelines on state aid for R&D&I: 

"knowledge transfer" means any process which has the aim of acquiring, collecting and sharing explicit and tacit knowledge, including skills and competence in both economic and non-economic activities such as research collaborations, consultancy, licensing, spin-off creation, publication and mobility of researchers and other personnel involved in those activities. Besides scientific and technological knowledge, it includes other kinds of knowledge such as knowledge on the use of standards and regulations embedding them and on conditions of real-life operating environments and methods for organizational innovation, as well as management of knowledge related to identifying, acquiring, protecting, defending and exploiting intangible assets. 

In addition, all profits from knowledge transfer activities must be reinvested in the primary activities of the research organisation, and the activities do not lose their non-economic character by outsourcing them to third parties through open tenders. We assume that the necessary accounting separation between the research organisation's/TTO's economic and non-economic activity is in place. See more on our information page: Conditions for granting state aid.   

Start-up companies 

Start-up companies must be aware that the aid is awarded as state aid on the basis of Article 22 of the EU Block Exemption Regulation (Commission Regulation 651/2014 of 17 June 2014). 

The allocation of funds must be practised in accordance with the state aid rules. Terms and concepts shall be interpreted in accordance with the corresponding terms and concepts in the aid rules. If there is a conflict between the announcement and the state aid rules, the latter shall take precedence. For the same reason, the call for proposals may also be adjusted. 

We cannot grant aid to companies that have not complied with the repayment requirements following a previous decision by the ESA/EU Commission, where the aid has been declared illegal and incompatible with the internal market. 

Article 22 of the EU Block Exemption Regulation states, among other things, that the company 

• must be unlisted 
• was registered less than five years ago 
• has not taken over the activity of another undertaking, with the exceptions set out in Article 22 (2) a) 
• has not distributed dividends 
• was not formed through a merger, with the exceptions set out in Article 22 (2) c) or Article 22 (2) third paragraph. 

In addition to the requirements above, the Research Council has the following additional requirements: 

• the company must have fewer than ten employees 
• the company may have a maximum annual turnover of NOK 2 million and/or an annual balance sheet 

When assessing the size of the enterprise, you must take into account the number of employees and turnover/balance sheet also in companies that have an ownership interest of 25 per cent or more in the company, or in which the company itself has an ownership interest of 25 per cent or more. 

The call for proposals has been notified as an aid scheme to the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) with reference xxx/2025/R&D&I. 

Ethics 

The Research Council requires a high standard of research ethics in the projects we fund. The responsibility for ensuring that the research ethics standard is followed lies with the individual researcher and research institution (cf. the Act on the Organisation of Research Ethics Work).  The panel's assessment and decision do not entail any research ethics approval. 

The applicant must be aware of the following if you should receive a grant from us: 

• The Research Council's conditions for funding can also be found in our general terms and conditions for R&D projects on the information page What the contract involves.  
• The project manager and the Project Owner must have assessed and handled the consideration of research security in the project. Research security refers to risks associated with unwanted transfer of knowledge and technology, impact on research and innovation, or breaches of research ethics/integrity where knowledge and technology are used to undermine key societal values.  
• Grant recipients in research organisations and the public sector (Project Owners and partners) must have action plans for gender equality (GEPs) available on their websites. This must be in place before the contract is signed for projects with grants from us. The requirement does not apply to the private sector, interest groups or the voluntary sector.  
• The Research Council requires full and immediate open access for scientific articles, see Plan S - open access to publications.  
• For all projects that handle data, the Project Owner must prepare a data management plan in connection with the revised application, where you will find more information about the requirements for data management plans in projects that receive funding from us.  
• For medical and health studies involving humans, the Research Council sets special requirements and guidelines for prospective registration of studies and publication of results.  

• The project must be based on research results from approved research organisations. 
• The research results on which the project is based cannot be openly available. This is to safeguard opportunities for commercialisation and the protection of intellectual property rights.  
• The project must be based on research results that represent significant improvements in relation to existing knowledge or state-of-the-art, and have the potential to form the basis for new products, processes or services. 
• The project must be in a development and maturation phase, during which the innovation is not yet available for commercial sale and/or societal use. 
• The project must have defined clear goals for what is to be achieved during the project period,  what is expected to be clarified when the project is completed, and what triggering effect this will have for further funding in the next phase of the commercialisation process. 
• The project must be at TRL level 2–7 (Technology readiness level – the scale used in the EU). 

Establish a steering group 

Projects that receive funding must establish a steering group that includes expertise covering all key risk factors associated with the project. 

Termination of the project contract 

The conditions for entering into the contract can be found in the General Terms and Conditions. Examples of significant reasons that can lead to contract termination are:  

• conditions in the call for proposals and the agreed conditions for the funding are violated 
• project progress is not according to the agreed plan 
• key project staff are no longer part of the project 
• the project no longer has access to critical and necessary resources or equipment 
• results or new information have emerged that significantly weaken the commercial potential of the project 

Reporting and disbursement of funding 

All projects that are awarded funding must submit a final report and a simplified report no later than one month after the end of the project period. 

Start-up companies are required to submit annual financial reports. 

The funding is paid in arrears and only real costs directly related to the project that are registered in the institution's or company's accounts are covered. All reporting must be done electronically. 

The call is "open-ended" with no application deadline. Please note that you can only submit the application once. If you want to change the application after it has been submitted, you can create a new application – e.g. as a copy of the application that has already been submitted. 

A complete application consists of an application form and mandatory attachments that are submitted via My RCN Web. 

• The application and all attachments must be written in English. 
• All attachments must be in PDF format. 

For more information, see Guide for completing the application form (in Norwegian only) and Frequently asked questions about Commercialisation Projects.  

If you have previously received commercialisation funding (qualification or verification) for the project, this must be clearly stated at the beginning of the project description along with the results achieved. If you have previously applied for a verification project and been rejected, it must be clearly stated at the beginning of the project description what has changed since the previous application. 

Mandatory attachments 

• Project description of a maximum of 10 pages. Uploaded as attachment type "Project description". 
• CV for the project manager and key participants in the project team. Uploaded as attachment type "CV". 
• Declaration of Rights for Start-up Companies. Uploaded as attachment type "Other". If you are not going to hand in this form, you must upload a blank document under "Other". 
• Declaration form for start-up companies. Uploaded as attachment type "Other". If you are not going to hand in this form, you must upload a blank document under "Other". 

Use the default template for all required attachments. These can be downloaded at the bottom of the page. 

Optional attachment 

• Letters of intent from any customers, industry partners, or other business partners. Uploaded as attachment type "Other". 
• Suggestions for professionals who can assess the application. Uploaded as attachment type "Other". 

Applications that do not meet the requirements above may be rejected. 

All attachments to the application must be submitted with the application. 

We will not consider documents and websites linked to in the application, or attachments other than those specified above. Be careful to upload the correct attachment type, as there are no technical restrictions on what kind of templates it is possible to upload in the application form. 

Applications will be assessed in light of the purpose of the call and the following criteria:

Applications will be assessed by external experts in accordance with the criteria 'Excellence', 'Impact' and 'Implementation', and applications with an average mark of 5.0 or higher will be considered eligible for funding. The applications are ranked and recommended based on the overall average mark. 

In the event of equal marks, priority is given to projects that are most sustainable in terms of effects on climate, the environment and society. Secondly, in the event of equal mark, projects that collectively provide a spread across industry, thematic and challenge areas, as well as research institutions and regions, are recommended. The Research Council's general policy for the allocation of funding is also used, including a good gender balance with regard to the project manager among applications with equal quality assessment. 

The portfolio board for innovation will make periodic decisions. This means that applications that have been processed at the time each decision is made will compete against each other. 

Applications that have been rejected within the last 12 months, and which are resubmitted without significant changes, will retain the original marks given in the previous expert`s assessment. Changes that are considered to affect the expert`s previous assessment are considered significant. Minor adjustments, such as changing dates, are not considered significant. 

The Research Council of Norway may reject applications where the Project Owner or any partner has significantly breached its obligations in other projects funded by the Research Council within the two years prior to the submission of the application. The application may be rejected if the project manager has been convicted of misconduct by the Joint Integrity Committee or the Investigation Committee in the last two years prior to the submitted application. 

See also: How we process applications. 

Expected response to the application 

We accept and process applications on a continuous basis. The portfolio board will make decisions at regular intervals, and applicants will be notified as soon as possible.